Mayawati is not expected to speak at the Delhi gathering; her nephew will do so

Mayawati, the leader of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), is not scheduled to speak at any rally in Delhi this time around, in contrast to previous Lok Sabha elections. However, her name is included on the list of 36 prominent campaigners that was given to the chief electoral officer (CEO) on Monday.

 

Party sources who are aware of the situation indicated that instead, preparations are being made for a campaign to be spearheaded by Mayawati’s nephew, Akash Anand, the national coordinator of the BSP. Candidates for each of the seven Lok Sabha seats in the nation’s capital have been nominated by the BSP.

“There is little chance that Behenji would attend a Delhi electoral rally. We are organizing an Akash Anandji-led campaign. But nothing has been decided upon yet,” a leader said.

Given the considerable number of party supporters, the BSP leader spoke at carefully selected sites in many seats during election rallies held in the city.

She spoke in a Chandni Chowk Lok Sabha rally at Ramlila Maidan in 2009, while her meeting in 2014 was held in Dwarka, which is part of the West Delhi parliamentary seat. In the northwest Lok Sabha seat of Delhi, in Ramlila Maidan, close to the GTB enclave, a rally was organized in 2019. She participated in the 2020 Delhi assembly campaign as well.

The younger brother of the party head and president of the Delhi chapter, Laxman Singh, Anand Kumar, is listed as a national vice president for Delhi.

“There is no doubt that we will do better. We are working hard and will stand up to the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alone. All seven seats will be up for grabs in a triangle race, Singh informed this publication.

In the national capital’s 2008 assembly elections, the BSP did very well, garnering two seats and 14% of the vote. Out of the six assembly segments, it was the first runner-up. But in the 2009 general elections, one year later, the vote share dropped to 5.34 percent and has been falling ever since.

The party received barely 1.2% of the vote in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, and its percentage fell even further to 1% in 2019. BSP’s vote share in the 2020 assembly votes was a pitiful 0.7%.